It may be a tough sell for the Wake County school system to get county commissioners to approve funding for the single-sex leadership academies and the purchase of the former YWCA building.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Republican commissioners wanted more details before approving use of $1.657 million to renovate the former Thompson School as the site of the Wake Young Men’s Leadership Academy. There were also questions about using $2.9 million to renovate buildings at the Gov. Morehead School for use by the Young Women’s Leadership Academy.

But there seemed to be an especially heavy dose of skepticism about spending $1.1 million to buy the former YWCA building on Hargett Street.

Some local Republican elected officials are backing away from their endorsements or denying they made them in Wake County school board member Chris Malone's bid to win the state House 35 seat.

As noted in today's North Raleigh News article by Paul A. Specht and Colin Campbell, some GOP politicians are distancing themselves from Malone since the recent reports about his relationship with fellow school board member Debra Goldman. In some ways, the reaction is similar to how state GOP officials are distancing themselves from Goldman in her run for state auditor.

“I know I endorsed him in the past,” said Commissioner Phil Matthews, vice chairman of the commissioners, of Malone. “But, I have not voted yet and am going to wait and see how things go before I take things further.”

The new CTE high school and plans to relocate the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy to the former Thompson School building may finally being forward despite the recent bickering between the Wake County school board and county commissioners.

As noted in today's article, the commissioners approved Monday this memorandum of understanding to lease the former Coca-Cola bottling facility in South Raleigh and renovate it for opening for the 2014-15 school year as the CTE school.

Now the school board will hold a public hearing today on the CTE high school and vote on a resolution requesting commissioners go ahead with the deal.

UPDATE

Amid concerns raised by some board members, a vote will be held Oct. 30 on whether the school should be open to sophomores, juniors and seniors or just juniors and seniors.

Magnet schools, the new career and technical education high school and a curriculum audit are on the agenda for today's Wake County school board student achievement committee meeting.

Staff will give an update on the federal magnet school grant that Wake will seek. This could include info on the themes for Fox Road, Green and Poe elementary schools and Carroll and Moore Square middle schools.

Staff will also provide information on the program offerings for the CTE high school that Wake hopes to open in 2014. The school board has officially asked county commissioners to acquire the former Coca-Cola facility in South Raleigh.

Commissioners Chairman Paul Coble has asked the school board to pass a resolution committing to the CTE high school for at least seven years before commissioners would consider acquiring the site.

The Wake County school board's facilities committee will meet today for the first time since the departures of Superintendent Tony Tata and Chief Facilities and Operations Officer Don Haydon.

One of the topics will be start up design for the next school bond issue. Also on the agenda is the schematic design for Cary High School's renovations and geothermal heating and cooling system that would be built at Richland Creek Elementary's permanent campus.

But overshadowing all of these things is the impact recent changes in Wake school leadership will have on the planning for a school construction program and bond in 2013.

Wake County school board chairman Kevin Hill is continuing his efforts to justify the board majority's firing of Superintendent Tony Tata.

As noted in today's article, Hill met Friday with N&O editors and reporters to list out issues such as concerns about Tata's relationship with board members and staff and his handling of taxpayer dollars. Some of it's similar to what he said at Tuesday's board meeting but he went into more detail.

Hill also went into how he wants to handle the superintendent's search and the timing of the next school bond issue.

UPDATE

Click here to view the letter to the editor from Kevin Hill that will appear in Tuesday's paper in response to Tata's point of view column.

Not surprisingly, the recent firing of Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata and the possible 2013 school bond issue came up at Thursday's forum for candidates for county commissioner.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, the Republican candidates criticized Tata's firing while the Democratic candidates said it was the Democratic board majority's prerogative. They also differed on the need for a bond issue.

Republican candidates Paul Fitts and Dale Cooke called it a "colossal" mistake to fire Tata.

Democratic members of the Wake County school board were under the gun Tuesday to justify their decision to fire Superintendent Tony Tata.

As noted in today's article, Democratic members got far more explicit about their reasons for firing Tata than they did last week. At the same time, members of the audience and the Republican board members ripped into the board majority for its decision.

School board chairman Kevin Hill set the tone for the Democratic response during his opening comments.

Will former Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata return to the public eye as a candidate for U.S. Senator in North Carolina?

In his Talking About Politics blog Wednesday, Democratic political strategist Gary Pearce writes that "Democrats may pay the price" for Tata's firing. For instance, Pearce writes that "Tata gets a years’ pay so he can start (some critics theorize) running against Senator Kay Hagan in 2014."

Pearce writes that now Republican school board member John Tedesco "may stir up enough votes in Wake County to get elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction" and that Wake County Board of Commissioners Chairman Paul Coble "now has an excuse not to give the schools more money."

Pearce writes that "it was a mistake to fire Tony Tata without first setting out a bill of particulars." He also writes that "even strong Democrats believe the Wake school board flunked this test."

The firing of Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata has resulted in joint meetings between the school board and county commissioners on the next school bond issue being put on hold.

In this letter dated Friday, Board of Commissioner Paul Coble writes to school board chairman Kevin Hill that there's "no reason" now to hold the joint meetings until the commissioners get resolution on issues that have been put "up in the air" by Tata's firing.

Coble wants the school board to pass a resolution on the new/revised student assignment plan. He also wants the school board to pass resolutions affirming their support, for at least the next seven years, for the  Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy and for the CTE high school.

UPDATE

Click here for the article in Tuesday's paper.